Team LORE
by turtleboy743
Summary: The story of a 17 year old human boy & his Faunus team. Well he be able to earn the respect of his teammates or will he give his team more reasons to hate & fear humans? Critiques & comments aren't necessary but are very appreciated.
1. LORE Ch1

Early morning. A 17 year old boy with black hair and black eyes, named Lorne, looks outside the window of a monorail train heading, Sovereign, the largest and most populated city in the kingdom of Doxa. As the boy enjoys the scenery flying by he wasn't prepared for the view of the awesome sight of the large and amazing looking city as it came into view. All around him he can hear people around him clamoring around to get a good view of Sovereign. It wasn't unexpected however. Almost everyone in that train was on that train for the exact same reason Lorne was. All of them had been accepted into Dire, a prestigious combat school that trained young men and women to become Hunters and Huntresses in order to combat the Grim, creatures whose sole purpose seems to be the complete obliteration of the human race. The school only selects exactly four hundred students a year out of thousands of applicants and all the ones were lucky enough to enter the school novices, and come out the best of the best. Lorne watched in silent awe as he looked at all the people that the train passed by. His fun came to an end however when the conductor made an announcement on the intercom.

"Students. I know you're excited at your first glimpse of Sovereign but we're pulling into the station right now and I highly advise that you buckle up until we stop. When we stop you may pick up your weapons and armor in the lobby" He said.

Lorne quickly pulled away from the window and buckled up in his seat. A young man with blond hair and blue eyes, about 18 of age, walks up to Lorne and takes a seat across from him.

"Hello there. Name's Mack. Mackie to my friends." Said the young man. Lorne wasn't really sure what was going on so he decides to be polite and replies.

"Hi. I'm Lorne. Lorne Arthurson." Said Lorne

"No kidding. Nice to meet you Lorne." Mack smiles held out his hand and Lorne politely refused. "Ha! Cautious of strangers. Glad to know your mom didn't raise an idiot. So you got accepted into Dire too? Where you from?

"I'm from Wight. It's in the northern part of Doxa near the Lost Land."

"Near the lost land? I thought it's basically suicide for ANYONE to live there."

"People are able to live there. It's just you need to deal with the occasional swarm."

"Well let's hope that those swarms prepared you for the real monsters out there. I trained all my life to be accepted into this academy. Dad told me either I become a Hunter or a dental Hygienist." Mack chuckles and imitates his father "The only thing that makes more money than a Hunter is a dentist. I tell ya, there's gold in those molars." Lorne laughs at Mack's joke and Mack soon followed with a hardy laugh. "You know Lorne, I can tell that you and I are going to be great friends." The two suddenly felt the train brakes activate and it slowly drifts into the station with a ear retching screech. The conductor once again contacted the passengers via intercom.

"Alright everyone. We're finally at the Sovereign train station. Again your weapons and armor located in the lobby. Just talk to the lobby receptionists and they'll handle everything for you. Also you may change in the bathrooms located to the east of here. Good luck students and have a wonderful Dire experience." Once the intercom turns off Lorne and Mack unbuckles themselves and they exited the train. They walked off the train and once they had received their weapons and armor, Lorne entered the men's bathroom in order to change. Mack waited outside now with a machete with purple roses decoration made of dust gems on the blade on his back. Lorne soon exits the bathroom now wearing brown leather boots & gloves, a chainmail vest , chainmail pants, a steel chest plate, a steel kite shield and a sheathed long sword at his waist.

"Hey, hey, hey. Looking pretty snazzy." Said Mack

"Thanks. By the way, do you know how to get to the academy from here?"

"Yeah, but I need to meet up with some relatives who live around here. Let's meet up again at Dire."

"Sure. See ya Mack." Lorne waves goodbye to his new friend as he runs off into the city. Once Mack was out of sight Lorne breathes a sigh of relief and he snickers a bit. School hasn't even started yet and whether he wanted to or not he had already made a friend. "This is going to be an interesting year." Thought Lorne


	2. LORE Ch2

Lorne walks aimlessly up and down the Sovereign streets in a futile effort to find his way toDire academy. As time ticked by he began to wonder if he'll ever be able to Dire. It sounded simple in his head. 'Just head towards the center of the city.' but somehow he got himself lost and with every turn he felt that he was getting more and more lost. His wondering was shortly interrupted however when he saw a young Fennec Fox Faunus girl, around his age, wearing a scale chest plate and a large bronze shield on her back, reading, or at least trying to read, a detailed map of the city. Lorne approached the Faunus girl and causally greeted her.

"Excuse me." He said, startling the Faunus girl and making her jump. "Hi. My name is Lorne. I was wondering if-" His sentence was cut when the Faunus girl got a look at him and started running away as if Lorne was some kind of monster to her. "I…can…see yourmap…crap." Lorne watched the girl run out of sight then went backlooking for the academy.

The Faunus girlran as fast as her legs can carry her. When she looked back the human was nowhere in sight and came to a stop. She took a moment to breathe then sat on the curb and started thinking about what she had done. 'How can she be so stupid!?' She thought. The moment she saw that human instinct took over and her legs moved before she could even think. She hangs her head in disappointment and takes this moment to orient. She was interrupted however when a young man walks up behind her.

"Excuse me. Are you ok?" The young man asks in a gentle voice. The Faunus Girl turns her head around to look at the young man and she sees that he's wearing a black hoodie with the hood pulled up and blue jeans. She couldn't get a good look at his face but notices that he young man has two horns protruding out through the top of the hood.

"You're a Faunus?" Asks the girl and the man nods.

"You're one too right?" Rozenn nods and she smiles.

"So are you ok? You look a bit down."

"Oh…it's nothing really. I just did something stupid that's all."

"Well what'd you do?"

"I...promise you won't laugh?"

"Promise. Just tell me what happened." The girl looks at the man's face, and even though she wasn't able to make anything out she felt that she was able to trust him.

"I ran away from a human."

"You what?"

"I ran away from a human. I know it's stupid but I had some bad experiences with humans when I was a child and I've been afraid to talk to a human ever since. I know I shouldn't do that but-"

"No. You did the right thing." Said the man, but this time in a slightly harsher voice. "Humans are violent creatures and the human you ran away from probably wanted to take advantage of you."

"You sure? But that human…he sounded nice. Maybe if I go back maybe I can-"

"No. Trust me. I've seen this happen before. He wanted to sound nice but when he gets the chance he's just going to hurt you."

"But…what if…suppose…"

"If you want to go back fine. But I won't be able to help you if something happens."The girl thinks about going back but she can't shake the feeling that the young man might be right.

"I…I guess you're right. I should just leave it alone. Right now I need to find my way to Dire academy."

"Dire? I'm actually heading there myself. If you want I can take you there."

"I'd like that. By the way I never got your name."

"Egon Best. Yours?"

"Rozenn Borde."

"Rozenn. That's a nice name."

"Th-Thanks." Said Rozenn and she blushed at Egon's comment. Egon smiles and he removes his hood to reveal a kind face with black hair and green eyes.

"Just follow me. We'll get there soon. And don't worry. I'll make sure no human ever hurt you."


	3. LORE Ch3

Lorne made his way into Dire academy's extensive courtyard. The moment he entered he collapsed on the first bench he saw.

"Ugh...my legs are killing me." He said groggily.

"Well don't die yet. You haven't even started the school year yet." Said a familiar voice. Lorne turns towards the direction of the voice and saw his friend Mack walking towards him. "Hey Mack!"

"Sup Lorne. Finally got here huh? Took you long enough." Mack takes a seat next to Lorne on the bench.

"Yeah well...I got a little lost but I finally got here so that's good. I would've gotten here faster but when I asked this girl if I can see her map she ran away."

"Maybe she's shy?"

"Maybe..." Lorne leans back on the bench but sits back up when he sees about a small crowd of people gathered in a single location. "Hey, what's going on over there?" He ask. Mack gave Lorne a questioning look and Lorne points over to the crowd.

"Could be a fight. I'm going to find out. You coming?"

"Might as well." The two stands up from the bench and they walked over to the crowd. The crowd was surrounding a fight between a 16 year old Bear Faunus girl and a group of 4 boys. The Faunus girl, surrounded by the 4 boys, punched and kicked in every direction and every once and while she landed a strong blow onto one of the boys, but they weren't easily deterred. Soon all the boys rushed her at once and started a counter attack.

"Grab her arms and legs!" Said one of the boys, and even though it was easier said than done, the boys managed to restrain her hands and feet and pin her to the ground.

"Let go of me!" Shouted the Faunus girl

"Sure. Only if you apologized first." Replied Boy 1

"Apologized for what? I didn't do anything!"

"Didn't do anything? You stole one of my Dust capsules! Now apologize and give it back!"

"I told you. I didn't steal it. And even if I did I wouldn't give it back to humans like you!" Boy 1 gritted his teeth and gestures for the other boys to back off a bit but to be on guard. The boys complied and the leader grabs the Faunus girl by her shirt and lifts her until she was eye level with him.

"I'll give you one last chance. Give me back my Dust and I'll let you go." The Faunus spits in his face and the leader scowls. "Fucking animal."

"Hey Baldric." Said one of the boys. "We need to go now. Too many people are watching."

"Good point." Baldric quickly knees the Faunus Girl in the gut and drops her. The Faunus lands on her knees and holds her gut in pain as she throws up at Baldric's feet. "This isn't over." Baldric and his group pushes their way out of the crowd as Lorne and Mack made their through the dispersing crowd to see the Faunus Girl trying to stand on her feet.

"Hey are you alright?" Said Lorne as he tries to help her stand but she quickly pulls away. The girl shakily stands up and gives Lorne a glare before walking off trying to hide her pain.

"Wow. Rude much?" Commented Mack.

"I wonder what that was about."

"Whatever it is that girl really took a beating. You think she'll be ok?"

"Probably. She got into the academy so chances are she'll pull through." Right when Lorne finishes talking, a large hologram of a man with a large white beard wearing a purple suit holding a walking cane appears in the center of the courtyard. The man starts talking in a loud commanding, but soft spoken voice.

"Students. I am Headmaster Jupiter. Every year I see the young eyes of future Hunters and Huntresses arrive and go from this academy. In each one of those eyes I see the potential that all of you have inside. It is my responsibility and the responsibility of the professors in Dire academy to tap into that potential and train you all to be the best warriors you can be. Tomorrow will be mark the day you all start your new lives here at Dire so I suggest you make the best of today and get yourselves acquainted with the school. Rooms will be assigned when teams are created so everyone will need to camp out in the courtyard for the night. The staff will provide tents and sleeping bags if anyone needs them don't hesitate to ask. Good luck and may good fortune fall upon you." The hologram disappears and thus began the clamoring of students either scared, or excited of what the next 4 years holds for them.

"He seems nice." Said Mack

"I guess. Hey the Headmaster said something about teams. Do you know how they're assigned?" Asks Lorne

"Beats me. All I know is that it's apparently different every year."

"Well that's just great. Hopefully it won't be something to difficult."

"Hey don't worry about it. I haven't heard of anyone dying because of the Assignment challenges. At least not yet."

"Well now I feel great." Said Lorne with a bit of sarcasm

"You'll do fine. Just keep your chin up and if something tries to kill you, kill it first. I'm going to find a staff member so I can get one of those tents."

"You do that Mack. I'm going to go see if I can't find a bathroom."

"Alright then. See ya Lorne."

"Later Mack."


	4. LORE Ch4

Early Morning. Dire's entire courtyard suddenly started to clamor with the sound of students waking up and packing up. Lorne, of course, was one of those students as he packs up a sleeping bag he borrowed from the staff. He was amazed at how easily he slept despite the fact he had to deal with the constant clanging of weapons of students practicing throughout the night. After he returns the sleeping bag Lorne made his way over to the academy's cafeteria and to his surprise, the cafeteria was even bigger than the courtyard and there were even more students from all years were there. Lorne carefully made his way through the cafeteria where until finally took his seat across from Mack who causally sat there eating a plate of bacon and eggs.

"How'd you sleep?" Asks Mack

"Better then home if fact. It's actually pretty nice to sleep without Susan or the triplets waking me up." Replied Lorne

"Susan? Triplets?"

"My little sisters. Hannah, Ellie and Tess are the triplets. They're about 8 years old at this point and Susan, who's about 4."

"4 little sister eh? Must be tough."

"You don't know the half of it. The Triplets wake me up every other night and refused to go to sleep until they're able to sleep in my bed and Susan wakes me up because she needs help going to the bathroom. After I fix her up a glass of warm milk, tuck her into bed, a kiss on the forehead and she sleeps like a kitten."

"Must be tough being the oldest in the family. I have three older brothers myself."

"Really? Are they also Hunters?" Mack nods

"All of them left the house when I was a kid and became big shot Hunters. As you can probably guess my parents have high expectations for me."

"Geez. Well good luck with that Mack."

"Don't worry about it. I can handle myself. Just worry about yourself."

"Sure thing." Lorne starts to eat his breakfast but couldn't help looking around at the many students around him. He stops however when he spies a familiar face. "Hey Mack."

"What's up?"

"See that girl over there?" Lorne points behind Mack and Mack turns around to find that Lorne is pointing at a Fennec Fox Faunus with reddish brown hair and yellow eyes wearing a steel scale chest armor and what seems to be a green tunic underneath. The Faunus Girl had her head down and was stirring around what looked like stew with a spoon.

"Her? What about her?"

"That's the girl I told you about yesterday. The one with the map."

"That's her? Are you sure? I mean it could be some other Fox Faunus."

"Positive. She wore that exact same armor the other time too."

"Huh. You know she's kinda cute. So why're you pointing her out? Going to ask her out or something?"

"What, no! I just want to talk to her and maybe ask her why she ran away the other time. Should I?"

"I don't know. If you want to fine. If you don't want to fine. Personally I think you should follow your gut."

"Follow my gut? Well ok." Lorne sat there and thought about greeting the Faunus Girl or not and in the end he found himself standing up and walking over to her table.

Rozenn stared into her bowl of rabbit stew with concern in her mind. She had finally made it to Dire academy through nothing less than hard work and dedication, but on the other hand when she first entered the academy's courtyard she noticed that some people were giving her strange looks. She wondered if it had something to do with her being a Faunus.

"Excuse me." Said a male voice, ending Rozenn's thinking. Rozenn looked up from her bowl and saw that it was the boy whom she ran away from yesterday. "Hi. Umm do you remember me? It's completely fine if you don't. I'm the guy you ran away from when I asked for you map."

"Uh..um..H-" Rozenn felt her heart pounding in her chest and her throat began to clog up. She knew what she wanted to say but her fear of humans prevented her from actually communicating with this boy. Rozenn felt her hands getting cold and her fingers became shaky and it felt like she was going to faint at any moment.

"Hey!" Said a familiar voice and Rozenn felt relief as Egon walks up to the boy with a stern look on his face. "Get away from her." Said Egon

"What are you talking about?" Asks the boy.

"I said, get away from her." Egon stood face to face with the boy trying to intimidate him, and despite the fact that Egon was about four inches taller than the boy, the boy didn't seem fazed.

"Look I just wanted to talk to her alright? I don't want to cause any trouble."

"Right. You wanted to 'talk to her'. Well she has nothing to say. Now unless you want to fight. I suggest you leave." The boy stared into Egon's stern eyes then he looked at Rozenn for a moment then back at Egon.

"Find I'll go." Said the boy and he turned around and left. Egon watched the boy until he confirmed that the boy won't come back before taking a seat next to Rozenn. He speaks with her with the same kindness as before.

"Are you ok?"

"Y-Yeah. I'm fine. Uh…thanks for helping out."

"No problem. By the way, why was he here? What did he want from you?"

"I don't know…I think he just wanted to talk for a bit."

"Wanted to talk? He probably said that to make you lower your guard. Humans don't want to talk to Faunus. All they know and all they want to ever do is fight and fight until there's nothing left to fight when that happens they start fighting each other."

"But are you sure? I'm sure that he just wanted to-"

"Rozenn, what's better? Trusting me and being safe or trusting that boy and having him hurt you when he gets the chance?"

"I…the first one I guess."

"Exactly. Just listen to what I say and I can guarantee nothing bad will happen to you."

"…Promise?"

"I promise."

As Lorne walks back to his table he could feel the Goat Faunus's cold stare piercing through him until he made it back to his table.

"So how'd it go?" Asks Mack

"I tried to talk to her but this Faunus guy walked up to me and chased me away from her."

"Chased you away?"

"Yeah. He didn't even give me a reason why."

"Probably he's just an over protective brother. Don't let it get to you."

"I know, I know." Lorne then went quiet for a couple of minutes as he and Mack finished their breakfast meals. The cafeteria intercom then turned on and a strict female voice filled the area.

"Greeting students. My name is Professor Juno. In exactly half an hour all first years will be required to participate in this year's initiation and team assignment. The initiation this year will take place in Labyrinth Canyon. It is recommended that all first year students use this time to prepare their armor and weapons then head to the northern exit of Dire for the airlift."


	5. LORE Ch5

"Wow!" Said Orla. A young Bear Faunus girl about 16 years old, wearing blue shorts, a blue vest with a wave pattern, and a green t shirt underneath. On her back is a crossbow about the length of her arm. She looked out the window of the airship all that picked up all the first year students from Dire. This was the first time Orla's had been up this high and she was blown away at what she could see from up there. The moment came to an end however when she felt a sharp pain in her abdomen causing her to wince and bend over slight. "Mother fucker." She thought. She hadn't been taking it easy since that blow to her gut yesterday and now she's paying the price for it. If she was allowed to use her weapons on the ship she would find the guy who hit her yesterday and kick their asses. Orla shrugs off the pain as she always does but it didn't really help as the pain kept coming back. She then felt a slight tap on her shoulder and she quickly spun around ready to elbow whom she thought was one of the boys from yesterday but stopped when she saw it was just one of Dire's staff members.

"Umm...I'm sorry?" Said the staff holding a decorated wooden box "Can you pick an item from the box?" Orla looks inside the wooden box and saw that it's filled to the brim with marbles of all colors. Orla looks at the staff member then at the box before taking a shiny green marble from the box. "Thank you. Headmaster Jupiter will begin shortly." Orla nods and the staff member walks over to the next student. She looks at the marble and can't help but wonder why she was handed the trinket but decided to leave it alone soon after. She places the marble in her pocket and continues to watch the lovely scenery out the window. Like before however, the moment was short lived as a life sized hologram of Professor Jupiter appears in the center of the airship.

"Good Morning students. I hope you had a full breakfast today. The initiation is just 10 minutes away. Right now every student should received a colored marble courtesy of the staff member onboard. There are two of each color marble on the ship so two students will have the same color marble. Your first task is to find the person holding the other marble. That person will your partner for the next 4 years here at Dire. Now good luck and as always, may fortune be with you." The hologram disappears and every student on the ship started moving about looking for the one who had the same color marble as them. Orla did the same, but can't shed the itching feeling that she's not going to like her new partner.

Lorne stood next to Mack. They had just heard the Headmaster's instructions and are walking around the ship looking for their partners and having a friendly conversion. In Mack's hand is a shiny yellow marble and in Lorne's a green marble.

"So you're excited to find your partner?" Asks Lorne

"Me? I don't really care to be honest. I mean sure it'd be nice if my partner is a cute girl or something but I don't really care who I got to be my partner. As long as they know how to fight they're AOK with me." Answered Mack

"You really aren't worried about this are you?"

"Hey as I said before, as long as they know how to fight they're AOK. Why'd you ask? Are you worried?"

"A bit if I'm honest. I read enough books to see how this is going to go. I'm going to bump into that guy from this morning, you know, the 'over protective brother' and he's going to have the same marble as me and we'll be forced to work together."

"Yeah maybe. But in those books the end up become friends right?"

"Not always...Dad always told me to always look on the bright side of things but to be honest I can't really think of a way being paired up with that guy be anything but a tragedy." The two's conversation was interrupted when a shy looking girl with brown eyes and red hair walks up to the two holding a muffin basket. She wore a yellow robe like dress, glasses, a sunhat with a blue ribbon wrapped around it and blue boots.

"Umm excuse me." Said the girl. "Would you be interested in a muffin?" The girl holds out her muffin basket and Lorne looks at Mack who shrugs and they both take a muffin each.

"Thanks Ms..."

"I'm Emily. Emily Woods. I saw you in the cafeteria a while ago and you both looked nice so I wanted to meet you as soon as possible and maybe ask if you'd like to be friends...?" Emily's face turns red and she hides her face behind the basket.

"Of course I'd like to be your friend." Replied Lorne with a smile. Emily looks at Lorne with hopeful eyes

"R-Really?"

"Why not? You seem like a nice person." Emily comes out from behind her basket and her nervousness was replaced with happiness.

"You really think so?"

"You offered us these muffins right?"

"About those muffins. Where did you get those? They're really good." Said Mack, already halfway though his muffin.

"I didn't buy them anywhere. I baked them myself."

"You baked them?"

"Yes. Mother said that the best way to a man's heart is with baked goods. That's how she won over my father."

"Well your mom might be right. A cute girl like yourself baking stuff this good, you'd be one hell of a wife." Emily blushed and she hid behind her basket at Mack's comment.

"I-I don't know if I'm ready for marriage yet, but thank you for your complement."

"No problem. By the way, name's Mack Beers. Mackie to my friends. The guy next to me is Lorne Arthurson." Emily bows.

"Pleased to meet you both." As she rose a yellow marble fell out of her dress pocket and starts bouncing on the ground. "My marble!" Mack catches the marble out of the air.

"This yours?" Emily nods and Mack hands back her marble and when she checked to make sure that it isn't broken, she saw that there's not one but two yellow marbles in her palm. Emily realized what this meant and she looked up at Mack who gives her a nice big grin. "Looks like we're partners. I was actually hoping to be paired up with a cute girl too. Lucky me right?"

"Y-Yes. It's a coincidence really. Umm... do you really think I'm cute?"

"Sure. Besides if you keep baking these muffins I might end up proposing to you." Mack joked but Emily stood solid with her face red and she dropped her basket, spilling the contents all over the floor. The sound from the basket hitting the floor snapped Emily out of her trance before she scrambled to clean it up.

"Oh dear, oh dear. I am so very sorry."

"Hey it's no problem. Here let me help." Mack kneeled down and started picking up the chunks of muffins off the floor before turning to Lorne, who was also helping clean up. "Hey Lorne, we got probably a couple minutes left before we start the initiation. Go find your partner. Me and Emily will handle things here."

"You sure? Alright then. Thanks Mackie" Lorne stands up, gives Emily a goodbye nod and walks off in search for his partner. Roughly two minutes later, the hologram of Headmaster Jupiter appears again in the center of the airship.

"Students. I'm sure that most of you have found your partners already but if you haven't I suggest you don't dilly dally and get a move on. We only have 5 minutes left and anyone who haven't found their partner yet will be at a grave disadvantage." Said the headmaster before the hologram disappeared. Lorne picked up the pace, but when he turned around he bumped into girl, causing the two to fall over and drop their respective marbles. The two scramble to find and retrieve their marbles and after a couple seconds they find their marbles laying there side by side.

"Oh no..." Thought the girl as Lorne picks up the two marbles, which happened to be the same color.

"Hey it looks like we're going to be partners huh? Well it's really nice to meet you. I'm Lorne. You?" Said Lorne as he hands the girl her marble. The girl sighs in frustration.

"Orla Hickory."


	6. LORE Ch6

Rozenn and Egon stood next to a window in an empty area of the ship. Rozenn stared out through the window to see the majestic canyons that were beneath them. Egon however leaned against the wall and just watched over Rozenn like an older brother.

"Egon come look at this." Said Rozenn. Egon walked over to Rozenn and looks out at the canyon. "It's over there." Rozenn points at a herd of what looks like black deer with boney antlers, bone like armor on its back and skull like heads with glowing red eyes peering out of the sockets moving together as one. "Those are the creatures we're supposed to fight right?"

"One of them. Grimm have many forms and each one have different strengths and weaknesses. Those Grimm are called Impalers. They're many of them but they're easy enough to defeat. The average Hunter should be able to take on a herd of Impalers provided that they're not fighting anything else."

"I see. I remember my mom telling me about the Grimm when I was little. They're supposed to be really dangerous towards people. From here they don't really look all that bad."

"From here they can't attack you. Grimm have no purpose for existing other than to wipe humans and Faunus off the face of the earth."

"I guess. Still the Grimm's only reason for existing can't be just to kill humans and Faunus right?"

"Maybe. Maybe not. All I know is that the Grimm are evil yet they're the only reason humans haven't pushed the Faunus into extinction."

"Pushed the Faunus into…what do you mean by that?"

"It's nothing. Just enjoy yourself." Rozenn started thinking about what Egon had said but stopped when she caught a glimpse of another group of Grimm.

Emily followed Mack around the ship using whatever time they had left asking him question after question about himself.

"So...do you have any siblings?" Asks Emily

"3 older brothers." Answered Mack

"Are they nice?" Mack sighs, slightly annoyed.

"You ask a lot of questions you know that?"

"O-Oh...I'm sorry." Emily blushed out of embarrassment and she looked away from Mack. "I just wanted to get to know you better."

"Well that's fine and all but do you have to ask me again and again and again? I got some patience for but I got my limits you know."

"Oh...umm...do you want to ask me anything?"

"Ask you something? Well..." Mack struggled to find anything about Emily that he wanted to know more about. She seemed like a nice girl, but if he was brutally honest she seemed a bit well...plain. But since she asked... "You good in a fight?"

"Good in a fight? I..guess so."

"You guess so? Darling, I guess so means you're dead by second year. I'm going to need a better answer then that."

"Well...I know a bunch of support skills. I can boost morale and attack with my weapon. You want to see it?"

"Sure. I'm not stopping ya." Emily nods and takes out a beautiful golden lyre with rainbow colored strings from her basket and hands it to Mack.

"It used to be my mother. When she was in her prime she used to be a huntress and this lyre was her weapon. She called it Siren's Laughter. It's not that impressive compared to some other weapons but I really like it."

"Not impressive? It's beautiful!" Said Mack examining the lyre. Emily blushed and looked away.

"Y-You think so? I-It's nothing really. I mean everyone else is carrying a weapon of some kind and I'm carrying an instrument." Mack hands her back the lyre.

"Hey have more faith in yourself. Besides playing the shy girl can only get you so far Darling." The two's conversation was interrupted when the air ship started to shake around a bit causing some of the students to fall over, including Emily. Luckily she had Mack to catch her and get her back on her feet. "You ok?"

"Yes. I'm fine. What happened?" Said Emily as she straightens out her dress and hat. Mack shrugs and looks around at the other students who were all either worrying or confused at what happened. One female student was talking to her friend near one of the ship's windows. Suddenly the two were startled when what looks like a large praying mantis, about the size of a man's torso, with a black shell, bone like scythe arms and a skull like face crashes onto the window with a loud thud. The two girls look at the mantis for a second until the mantis start crack the glass with is scythes.

"It's breaking the glass!" Said girl closest to the window. The other girl pushes her friend out of the way, pulls out and revolver and shoots the giant mantis through window causing the mantis to let go of the ship and plummet onto the ground far below.

"There. That wasn't so bad was it?" Said the second girl, but her comment was maybe a bit too early. From below the ship, a swarm of those mantis Grimm starts flying up and around the ship, surrounding and landing on the ship. The ones who landed started using their scythes to chip away at the airship's armor trying to get in, causing the freshmen inside to panic. Just as tensions in the ship was rising, the hologram of Headmaster Jupiter appears.

"Freshmen." Started the Headmaster. "The ship is under attack by a large group of Flying Scythes but that is no reason to panic. Just think of this as part of your initiation and remain calm. Your task is to find a staff member and they will lead you to an escape hatch. You and your partner will take the hatch down into Labyrinth Canyon where you will make your way to the northern end of the canyon for the second part of your initiation. Now as before, remain calm and may fortune be with you." The hologram disappears and immediately the staff members started guiding students over to emergency exit doors on the sides of the ship. The doors open up and students started jumping through two at a time fighting their way through the swarm of Flying Scythes that met them as they dropped. Lorne and Orla waited for their turn. Orla saw that Lorne had a nervous look on his face and she groaned.

"What you're afraid of a few bugs?" Said Orla

"What? No. I-It's not that. It's that I'm kinda afraid of heights." Replied Lorne

"There's a swarm of blood hungry Grimm out there and you're afraid of how high we are?" She sighs gives Lorne a serious look. "Look just stay out of my way ok? I don't care if we're partners, I just don't want for us to have to work together more then we need to."

"Uh..." Lorne didn't know what to say next. Luckily he didn't need to as a staff member called for Orla and Lorne. The two walk over the door and Lorne pokes his head out and sees the ground a long ways down from where they were. "Uh...wow. Oh boy. Umm just let me take a second to prep myself." Orla facepalmed.

"I need to do everything myself." Orla suddenly pushes Lorne out through the door and jumps after him.


	7. LORE Ch7

As he descended Lorne started to freak out. It didn't help that all around him students were fighting the swarm of Flying Scythes and the mantis parts flew everywhere.

"Just stay calm Lorne. You've fought Grimm before, this is no different. Just...find a happy place." Lorne said to himself trying to get himself to stop falling and start landing. Orla watches Lorne as he tried to psyche himself up and she rolled her eyes as she started picking up speed until she was far enough away from Lorne. She noticed a group of Flying Scythes flying straight towards her and she groaned.

"Great. Just one thing after another." She thought as before quickly drawing her crossbow. She loads up three bolts with red dust heads and fired straight into the group. The three bolts caused three fiery explosions within the group of Grimm killing most of them and scattering the survivors. Orla dodged and weaved to avoid the body parts as they flew by her. She glanced back at the carnage and felt a bit proud of herself but when she looked forward a straggler that survived the explosion flew at high speeds aimed at the young girl and crashed into her head. The head on collision killed the Flying Scythe but knocked her unconscious. Lorne was still trying to get over the fact that he was falling through a battle zone up until Orla's crashed into him, knocking him back into reality.

"Ow! What was that for?" He asked his partner but got no response. He noticed that her body felt limp so he turns her around to get a look at her face he saw that her eyes were closed and that there's a large bruise on her forehead. "Orla?" He tried shaking her a bit to wake her up but to no avail. The young man starts to worry as he and his partner plummeted towards the ground at high speeds and he had no way of landing. "Crap!" He had only roughly a minute to think a way for the two of them to land safely so he scrambled around his pockets for anything he could use and pulled out a capsule filled with liquid nitrogen. The capsule gave him a stroke of brilliance as he allows Orla to drift away from him slightly so he would be able to draw his sword and equip his shield. He inserts the capsule into the bottom of the sword's handle and immediately after, a layer of ice grows on the sword's blade and the shield's surface, strengthen the blade and shield. He grabs Orla and holds her close before raising the shield over his head. He closed his eyes, braced for impact and hoped for the best.

On the canyon's surface Rozenn picks off Grimm bits out from under the scales of her armor after a rough landing with Egon.

"Ugh..." She said after pulling out a gooey bit. "Did we have to charge head on into those Grimm? There's goo in places I didn't know my armor had."

"I'm sorry but we needed to slow down before landing. At the speed we were going we risked breaking two or more of our bones."

"Well I'm glad we didn't break any bones but I wish our landing could've been less messy though."

"Couldn't be helped. Right now we need to get to the northern side of the canyon."

"Do you know how to get there?" Egon takes a moment to check their surroundings then looks up at the sun to orient himself.

"This way." Egon picked a direction and starts walking. Rozenn followed him but they didn't get very far when Egon stops her.

"What is it?"

"Shh." Egon gestures for Rozenn stayed perfectly quiet as the faint thundering of a large creature heading towards them gets louder and louder. A large crocodile covered in black scales, bone like armor, a row of meter long spikes running down its back and a boney skull like face walks out from behind the canyon wall.

"Egon...what is that?" Asks Rozenn. Egon didn't respond. Instead he kept his eyes on the Grimm as it sniffs the air in search of prey. Once it gets a whiff of Egon and Rozenn it looks in their direction and roars before charging.

"Rozenn run!" Shouted Egon as the two ran with the Grimm hot on their trail.

Mack and Emily hung on the side of a canyon wall with the only thing keeping them from falling being Mack's machete. The two hears a ferocious roar that sent shivers down Emily's spine.

"Wow. Someone's in big trouble huh?" Said Mack as Emily clings onto Mack's free arm

"Y-Yes."Emily takes a glance at the ground below them and tightens her grip. "I don't mean to be impolite, but c-can you pull us up a bit faster p-please?"

"You know I'd love to Darling but right now I need to think. Both my hands are busy so I can't climb and there's no place to drop you off so that I would be able to climb down. Well...there's one place I could drop you off but...you know what just forget I said anything." Mack looks down at Emily then looks up at the top of the cliff which is just maybe a feet away. "Ok. I think I got a plan."

"A plan?"

"Yeah. I'm going to see if I can't swing you up towards the top of the cliff. When you can just say the word, and I'll let go."

"Let go?! B-but I'll drop!"

"You won't. Just grab onto the ledge and pull yourself up. I'll climb up once you're safe."

"M-Maybe there's another way. I don't think I can-"

"There's no other way! Just trust me ok?"

"Well…alright."

"Ok. On the count of three." Mack starts swinging Emily from left to right and with each arc Emily was a little closer to being able to reach the ledge. "Ready Emily?" Emily nods. " ….two…Three!" Mack swung with as much strength as he could muster. Emily hesitates for a moment but finally she lets go of Mack's arm and reached out towards the top of the cliff. Much to her surprise her fingers managed to latch onto the edge of the cliff and much to her relief the edge seemed stable enough for her to climb up. Slowly but surely Emily began pulling herself up onto the cliff's surface but just when everything seemed to be going great the rock around Emily's fingers crumbled causing her to lose her grip. Mack reached out to catch her but she was too far away. All he could do was watch her plummet to the earth below. Or he would have if it wasn't for a stranger grabbing Emily's hand at the very last minute. Relieved that Emily was safe Mack took a look at her savior and saw that it was a girl with brown eyes, blond hair with black edges wearing a brown Stetson hat, a poncho and black pants.

"Hey you ok there?" Said the girl

"Y-Yes. I think so." Answered Emily.

"Alright. I'm going to pull you up now. Try not to let the breeze flip up your skirt you hear?" The girl joked but Emily didn't really find it all that funny or appropriate for the current situation. Mack on the other hand didn't really listen. He was just relieved that Emily was ok. However it was one step forward and one step back as he suddenly felt his weapon slip out of the rock. He looked at the spot where he had dug his machete into started to give way.

"Shit!" Mack quickly tried to grab the top of the cliff but was too late as his weapon broke out of the rock causing him to fall. He manages to grab onto the side of the cliff to slow and eventually top his decent but he was so far away from the surface that being able to reach the safety of the cliff top seemed impossible. "Well...this sucks." He said as he tried to figure out what to do next. Just then a thin rope attacked with a sharp dust dart descended right next to him. Mack looks up and sees a girl with black hair and yellow eyes with an emotionless expression on her face holding the rope and looking down at him. "Uh hi?"

"Grab the rope." She said in a tone one can describe as tired and dreary. Mack still complied though as he tugged on the rope a bit to make sure it won't break then grabbed on when it felt right. The girl pulled him up to safety and when he reached the top he got a good look at his savior. A small girl wearing a white hooded robe with yellow trim that covered her from head to toe.

"Hey thanks for the assist. Name's Mack." Mack extends out his hand and the girl shakes it.

"Rayna Magius." Said the girl.

"Raynaaa~!" Said the girl who saved Emily as she ran up to Rayna and gave her a huge bear hug. "I thought I lost you forever~!"

"Stupid Aria. I only left to help this man." Replied Rayna in an annoyed emotionless tone.

"And I'm very grateful for it Darling. By the way, Aria right?" Asks Mack

"Right-o! Aria Northwood. Me and Ray-Ray are partners." Said Aria

"I can tell. So where's Emily, the girl with the hat."

"She's over there." Aria points to Emily sitting on the ground far away from the edge of the cliff trying to catch her breath.

"Thanks." Mack said before heading over to check up on his partner. Rayna manages to wiggle out of Aria's hug.

"Hmph, you could've let me hug you for just a few more seconds." Pouted Aria. Rayna didn't respond. She just stared at Mack as he tried to get Emily back on her feet.

"Hey~! Are you listening to me?" Aria walked over to Rayna's front and took at look at her blushing face. "Ray-Ray are you blushing?" Rayna was silent for a moment before speaking.

"He called me darling..." Rayna trailed while Aria poked her to see if she's still alive.


	8. LORE Ch8

-Egon's POV-

Egon held Rozenn's hand as the two ran their fastest away from the crocodile Grimm hot on their trail. Luckily the two were smaller and are able to maneuver through the canyon more efficiently then the large Grimm behind them. Unfortunate for the two however Egon and Rozenn reached a dead end. The two turned around to see that the Grimm had slowed down its progress, mostly because it knows that it has them cornered. Rozenn equipped her shield and Egon took out two tomahawks. They had nowhere to go and the only way they were going to make it past the Grimm was to fight it. Egon knew this but against that Grimm...chances are that one of them or both of them are going to die. This isn't your average Grimm. This one is called a Trap Snapper. Usually it takes a team of 6 veteran Hunters to just scare off one adult Trap Snapper. He and Rozenn weren't veterans and there were only 2 of them. The odds were stacked against them but they needed to fight. The Trap Snapper hissed and stomped the ground as the two Faunus prepared for the Grimm's attack. Egon and Rozenn prepared to fight the Trap Snapper as it charges breaking every bolder and tree that stood between it and its prey. Right before it reached them, the Trap Snapper suddenly turned and swung its tail around. Rozenn quickly acted and ran in front of Egon with her shield raised. The Grimm's large tail slammed against the shield and the impact causing the two to fly into the wall behind them. Stunned, Egon and Rozenn stood up only to see that the Trap Snapper was getting ready to lunge.

It was stopped however when an icy missile fell from the sky and slammed into the wall behind them sending ice shrapnel in every direction and causing a rockslide to occur. The Trap Snapper tries to run before any of the rocks hit it but it was too late as the rockslide starts to fall onto and eventually cover it in a thick rocky shell. Egon and Rozenn waited under Rozenn's shield until the dust clears before come out to see what had happened.

"Wow. Lucky us huh." Said Rozenn and Egon nods. He looked up at where the missile had crashed to find what had caused the rock slide. When the dust around the crash site cleared he was surprised to see that it was the human from breakfast.

"Why the hell is HE doing here?" Thought Egon as the human clung onto the wall with his shield hand and held something that the two couldn't see in the other.

"Hi there! Can I get a bit of help please?" Said the human nervously. Egon stared at the human and considered helping. He looks at Rozenn who was also looking up at the human and unlike him was clearly ready to help however possible. Egon got to it first however as he started to climb up the wall until he was right next to the human. Egon didn't talk to him but it seemed like the human already knew what he was trying to do. Rozenn watched from the ground with worry for Egon and to a small extent the human. She watched as Egon offers a helping hand but instead of taking it what the human did next surprised her. She noticed that in the human's arms was an unconscious Faunus girl and watched as the human handed the girl over to Egon before Egon quickly climbed down. Rozenn was stunned! For the first time in her life she saw a human who put the life of a Faunus first and she began to think if what Egon had told her was right. Egon landed in front of Rozenn with the girl in hand and saw that she was deep in thought. He placed a hand on her should to get her attention.

"Don't think that this changes anything. The human only wanted to get rid of this girl because he's too prideful to ask for help." Said Egon and Rozenn listened and this time she actually thought about what Egon had said and nods. The two watched and waited as the human shakily scaled down the wall before eventually reaching the ground. When the human reached the ground he took a deep breath of relief.

"That sucked, to say the very least. Thanks for carrying my partner down." said the human before extending his hand to Egon. "I'm Lorne. You?" Egon didn't reply. Instead he ignored the human and focused on the injured Faunus girl. Egon carefully laid her down on her back and began examining the girl's injury. Rozenn walked behind Egon and looked at the girl.

"How is she?" Asked Rozenn

"She took a large impact to the head. You can tell by the large bruise, but with the right medication she should be fine."

"And the human?" Egon was a bit confused at what Rozenn had said and turned his head to look at her. "Uh...I was just asking..." Egon stood up and gave her a stern look.

"Why are you asking?"

"What's wrong with making sure he's not in any danger? I mean we're all people right?" Egon stared at Rozenn for a second then looks at Lorne who was scrapping off the remaining pieces of ice off his shield.

"He's fine." Said Egon before refocusing on the Faunus girl. Rozenn couldn't help but feel that she should help the human, even if Egon said that he's fine. She made her mind and walked over to the human.

-Rozenn's POV-

"H-H-." Rozenn had trouble introducing herself. Even if she wanted to help she was still afraid of humans. She struggled to get the words out at first but after clearing her throat she began her introduction. "H-Hello there." She said. The human stopped what he was doing and looked directly at her. "I'm R-Rozenn Borne. I-I was wondering if y-you were hurt anywhere?"

"Hmm? Hey aren't you the girl from breakfast?" Replied the human and Rozenn nods. "I'm fine. Hey can you do me a favor? There's a piece of ice that's really stuck on here. Can you help me pull it off?" Rozenn looks at the shield and sees that a large sheet of ice was still stuck onto the surface of the triangular shield. She nods and gets a grip on the ice. "Ok. On three pull. One...two and three!" The two pulled in opposite directions and after a couple seconds the ice finally broke from the shield and the sudden separation of the two caused Rozenn and the human to stumble backwards. The human manages to find his footing fairly quickly. Rozenn however stumbled until she tripped on a rock and fell into a nearby bush. The human rushed over to make sure she was fine and when he pulled away the branches he started to snicker.

"W-What is it?" Rozenn examined her armor, arms and legs to make sure there wasn't anything stuck onto them but when she couldn't find anything she looked at the human who pointed to his head. Rozenn touched her head and felt that a branch was entangled in her hair. Rozenn blushed at how embarrassing it must seem and struggled to pull it out with each tug either entangling it even more or causing her immense pain.

"Here, let me help." The human carefully grabs the branch and slowly untangles Rozenn's hair before quickly pulling out the branch.

"Ow!" The final pull felt as if her skin was being torn off and after rubbing the area where the branch had been and confirming that she still had a full head of hair Rozenn allowed the human to help her up. After the event her face turned red out of embarrassment and was unable to look at the human directly in the eye. "T-...Thank you." She said in a whisper.

"What was that? I didn't hear you."

"I said...Umm thank you for your help."

"No problem. I have energetic triplet sisters at home so I have to pull out burs from their hairs from time to time. Uh Rozenn right?"

"Y-Yes. I don't think I caught your name."

"Lorne. Nice to meet you Rozenn."

"Nice to meet you too." After saying that she realized that she didn't stutter that time. She was actually getting used to being around a human! But just when she was starting to get accustom to Lorne's company Egon suddenly grabbed her hand and pulled her away from Lorne.

-Egon's POV-

"What do you think you're doing?" Said Egon in a stern and angry tone. The fact that Egon would just pull her away like that confused Rozenn and to hear him using that tone scared her.

"I-I was just trying to help him."

"Well he didn't need it. Don't give that human the pleasure of getting you to believe he's your friend. In the end he's just going to hurt you."

"But Egon, this human isn't like what you said. He seems really nice and I think he just wants to be friends with us."

"Friend? With us? Humans don't want to be friends with Faunus. And Faunus shouldn't be friends with humans... Now I want you listen and listen carefully because your next answer will determine whether I can trust you are not. I don't want you to talk to that human anymore. The less contact you have with him the better understand?" Rozenn didn't reply. Instead she considered saying no to Egon but she was afraid at what might happen she didn't. "Rozenn, I said do you understand?"

"…..Yes. I won't talk to him anymore…" Said Rozenn in a sad defeated voice.

"Good. You won't regret making this decision. Trust me."

"Hey sorry for interrupting but can I ask you something?" Asks Lorne. Rozenn looked at Lorne but with a look from Egon she looks away and went to go check up on the patient. Egon redirected his attention to Lorne.

"What do you want?" Asks Egon

"I wanted to know if Orla's ok."

"Orla?"

"My partner. The bruise looks serious and I want to know if she'll be ok or not."

"She's fine. She just needs some medicine."

"That's good to hear. Now how about we get going. I don't think those rocks are going to hold that Grimm for very long." Egon to a look at the rock pile and saw it move just a bit.

"Fine. We'll start moving to the check point. I'll carry your partner."

"You sure? I mean she's my partner so wouldn't it be better if I took her?" Egon didn't say anything else and he walked over to Orla and carefully moved her onto his back. "Well…ok I guess."

"Rozenn let's go."

"Ok Egon…" Replied Rozenn as the two went around the rock pile and hurried towards the checkpoint.

"Hey wait up!" Said Lorne as he followed the three Faunus.


	9. LORE Ch9

At the checkpoint on the northern part of Labyrinth Canyon, Headmaster Jupiter looks out over the canyon with a yellow cane in one hand and the other behind his back. A middle aged woman wearing a peach colored Peplos(a body long dress),a pearl necklace, blond hair, and black eyes using a holographic checklist walks up to the professor from behind.

"The last of the freshmen had safely landed onto the canyon surface." Said the woman. "Looks like we have another good batch this year."

"Of course dear Juno." Said the Headmaster "I handpicked them myself as you know. Why I'd be a fool to choose students who wouldn't be able to handle themselves if a scrap." Obviously Headmaster Jupiter took great pride in the freshmen but a look at Professor Juno and her icy stare and he cleared his throat and moved on from the topic. "Now what is the status of the airship and the staff members aboard?" Juno takes a look at her checklist and pulls up a status picture of the airship.

"The airship took heavy damage to the engines and hull and some of the staff members were injured in the battle. Luckily no one died and the wounded are now being taken care of by Dr. Aesculapius."

"Excellent. Now how are the freshmen? Did anything interesting that happened so far?"

"Let's see…here we go. There's a group just south of here consisting of a human male and a Faunus male and two Faunus female. They had just managed to bury a Trap Snapper in a landslide and there's another group of a human male and three human females traversing through a narrow tunnel east of here had just dug their way into the territory of a Doom Stomper."

Mack's Group's POV

Mackand his team dug through a cave using Emily's Lyre as a source of light. As she played an elegant piece the lyre's strings glows a bright white light.

"Rayna, are you sure this is the right way?" Asks Mack

"Positive." Said Rayna in her usual deadpan tone. "This is the fastest way to the checkpoint. If we went around the walls it would take us at least an hour. This way it'll take us 10 minutes."

"Well is it possible to cut that 10 minutes to 5?" Complained Aria.

"What's wrong? Scared of the dark or something? Emily's providing at the light she can. Just bear with it until we get through."

"It's not that...I'm just really, really claustrophobic."

"Wait really?" Said Mack and he look back at Aria who was sweating, hyperventilating, and looked a bit antsy to boot. "Huh so you are. Don't worry about it. We'll be out pretty soon."

"Don't worry about it? That's all you're going to say? If we don't get out of here in 5 minutes I'm going grab your tongue and suck the air out of your lungs!" Screamed Aria, which caused an awkward and pregnant silence to fall upon the group.

Emily leans in towards Rayna in order to whisper "She really is claustrophobic huh?"

"You should see her when she's on her period." Said Rayna.

"Ok. Ok. I get it Aria just…take a deep breath and calm down." Said Mack. Before turning back around and continued heading towards the exit. Rayna and Emily followed soon after and after taking a deep calming breath Aria followed. After a couple minutes of crawling the team finally reached the other side and into a large plains like area. Mack was the first to climb out and after helping the others out of the tunnel, Rayna suddenly wrapped her arms around him. "Uh…hi?" Said a confused Mack

"You must be traumatized by Aria's threat. She's been hotheaded and impulsive since birth." Said Rayna, who obviously just wanted to take this opportunity to hug Mack.

"Why don't you say that to my face you fucking witch!" Shouted Aria. Emily gently held Aria back as to prevent her from doing something she would regret.

"Aria, you're still a bit jittery from the tunnel. Maybe it would be best if you were to umm calm down a bit?"

"Calm down? Calm down!? How can I calm down when I nearly suffocated to death just a minute ago!?" Everyone went silent as Aria huff and puffed until her breathing slowed down back to normal.

"Uh…are you feeling better now?" Asked Emily

"Much."

"Soooo….where to Rayna?" Asks Mack. Rayna didn't reply. She was too preoccupied savoring the moment. "Rayna? Hey Rayna, you listening Darling?"

"Hmm? Oh, don't talk. Just let me comfort you for just a bit longer." Said Rayna.

"...umm...ok?" Mack gently pulls Rayna's arm from himself and pushes her away. "Please don't do that again, like...ever."

"As you wish." Said Rayna before pointing over to the plains. "If we go that way we'll be able to reach the checkpoint. We'll be exposed while we're out there so we will need to hurry as to avoid attracting Grimm."

"Ok. Well you heard Rayna everyone. If we want to avoid meeting some unwanted company we got to move double...ah."

"What is it?" Asks Emily "Is something wrong?"

"Umm Emily, Aria, don't look behind you and don't move a muscle."

"Why? Is there something behind us...oh...shit." Said Aria as she and Emily looked over her shoulder. Emily nearly fainted as on the top of the cliff was a giant black elephant like creature with red eyes and white tusks. The elephant eyed the group of more specifically Aria and Emily since they were the ones closest to it.

"Rayna, please tell me you know how to handle this." Said Mack

"Doom Stomper. One of the two largest Grimm species in Labyrinth Canyon. I recommend that we move slowly away and try not to make any noise or sudden movements."

"Ok, Aria, Emily, just slowly move away and make sure you stay quiet or bad things will happen." Aria nods, and grabs Emily's arm and gently and slowly pulls her away from the Doom Stomper but as luck would have it, Emily tips over a rock and the noise from the rock seems to alert the Doom Stomper a it lets out an ear splitting trumpet before spewing out a bolder sized fireball from its trunk at the two. In reaction Aria pulls out her weapon, a colt revolver modified with a scope, and with a precise shot, she caused the fireball to explode and a large blanket of smoke, hiding them from the Doom Stomper.

"Quick, we need to run out of here while he have enough cover!" Said Mack

"It would be impossible. There's no way a human can outrun a Doom Stomper without transportation."

"Who said we'll be the one doing the running?" Mack draws his machete and pulls off one of the purple dust rose from the blade. He then tosses it onto the ground and it began to shine a bright purple before it suddenly exploded into a bright light, blinding the team for a moment. When the light disappeared however, in its place were two purple horses, covered in armor.

"What the hell?! They let you keep TWO horses but they wouldn't even let me keep a freaking lizard!?" Said Aria as Mack climbs onto the horse.

"I'll explain later. Who here know how to ..." Before Mack can finish her sentence Aria climbs onto the horse and takes the reins. "Ride...that settles that. Emily you're with me. Rayna go with Aria." Emily nods and with a bit of help from Mack, she quickly climbs onto the horse. Rayna puffs up her cheeks out of annoyance before climbing onto Aria's horse. "Now which way Rayna?"

"West. That's the fastest way to the check point."

"Got it. Aria follow me." Mack and Aria snaps their reins and the two horses started galloping west away from the Doom Stomper. However with a single flap of its ears, the Doom Stomper blows away the smoke. It looks around for the humans and sees them running away on their purple war horses, and not wanting to lose its prey, the Doom stomping jumps from the cliff and lands on its feet with a mighty thud. With a another ear splitting trumpet, the Doom Stomper takes chase with every step signaling its movement.

Lorne's Group POV

Lorne, Rozenn, and Egon had spent roughly half an hour walking through the canyon with no end in sight. Egon's attitude towards Lorne had forced him to stay a good 10 feet behind the Faunus. Orla was still out cold but Rozenn noticed that she was looking a bit under the weather. After placing her palm on Orla's forehead she began to worry.

"Egon, I think there's something wrong with Orla." Said Rozenn. Egon looks over his shoulder at the feverish Orla.

"We need to stop. There's no way she'll survive the initiation at this rate." Said Egon. He looked around for a place for Orla to rest and finds a small crevice in the canyon wall. "In that opening. It should be cool enough to keep Orla's fever down and it should provide us with some cover if we need to." Egon leads the group over the opening and he gently places Orla inside against the wall. He then turns to Rozenn. "Make sure she doesn't stop breathing. Open one of the cacti around here and give her some water if she does and if that doesn't work give her some CPR. I'm going to look for some herbs that can reduce her fever." Rozenn nods and kneels down to Orla. As Egon walks out of the crevice he turns to Lorne. "Guard the entrance and don't try to help."

"No problem. Hey my dad taught me a bit of botany. Maybe I can-"

"I said. DON'T try to help. Now just stand here and guard the entrance."

"Ok, ok fine. Don't get your horns in a twist." Egon ignored Lorne's comment and goes looking for the medical herbs. Lorne stood at the entrance keeping a watchful eye as Rozenn tries her best to keep Orla's fever down. After maybe a minute since Egon left Orla started to stir and move. When her eyes opened she saw Rozenn and out of instinct tried to push her away, but was unable to muster anything stronger then a weak shove.

"Get-Get away from me." Said Orla weakly as she tried to move away. However Rozenn gently held Orla in place.

"Don't move. I'm not going to hurt you. You're just a bit sick but my partner is out getting some things that'll bring down your fever."

"Water...I need water."

"I'll go get some. Try not to move while I'm gone." Rozenn stands up and walks out of the crevice. She goes around looking for a good sized cactus for Orla to drink out of. When Rozenn left Lorne took a look inside at Orla and stepped inside to check on his partner. He kneels down and checks her temperature.

"Geez you're really burning up aren't you." Said Lorne

"Get your damn...ugh..." replied Orla

"Don't talk Orla, you're just making it worse. Let's see..." Lorne starts to examine her head wound and noticed that imbedded in the center of the forehead was what looked like a tiny black stinger. He carefully touches the area around the stinger then he slowly plucked out the stinger from her forehead, causing Orla to wince in pain. "Sorry about that, but you're going to feel a lot better soon, believe me." Lorne holds up the stinger to his eye and he quickly realized what it was. "Flying Scythe stinger. You've been poisoned." He thought before standing up. "Wait here and if you can try to stay awake." He quickly runs out running around plucking and picking various plants then mixing them using half a cactus as a bowl and a rock as a mixer. When he's sure the mixture was done he brings it back to Orla where he rubbed some of it on the area where he plucked the stinger. "There we go. This should neutralize the poison in the area. How if you can, I need you to eat some of this. Got it?"

"F-Fuck...you."

"I'll take that as a yes." Lorne carefully uses a thin stick as a spoon and scoops some of the mixture into Orla's mouth. After a second of having the mixture in her mouth she swallows. Lorne smiles, knowing that she'll be fine.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Said Egon, who was standing outside the opening. He quickly runs in a pushes Lorne away from Orla. "What did you do?!"

"I was just trying to get rid of the poison from her system!" Said Lorne "When we were falling, she was hit by a Flying Scythe and-"

"I don't want to hear it." Egon quickly examines Orla to make sure Lorne didn't make anything worst, but to his surprise Orla's fever had gone down and the bump on her forehead was gone. "You got lucky. Her fever's down and she should wake up any moment."

"That's good. Now how about apologizing for pushing me?"

"I don't have anything to say to you." Said Egon as he walked past Lorne "Now where's Rozenn?"

"She went out a minute ago."

"And you let her go alone!?"

"Shut up the fuck up!" Shouted Orla who looked like she had just woken up from a hangover. "My head's throbbing like hell right now and I don't need a Faunus and human giving me a god damned headache. Now if one of you would be so kind as to enlighten me on our situation.."

"My partner is out there with a Trap Snapper on the loose. Your 'partner' decided that letting her go alone was a good idea."

"She didn't ask!" Said Lorne "Plus this isn't my fault! But now isn't the time to talk about this. We need to head out and look for her and make sure she's safe."

"For once, we agree." Said Egon. "Are you fit to fight Orla?"

"As I'll ever be." Said Orla as she stands up and makes sure everything was still in place. "So who's going to lead this rag tag rescue team?"

"I am." Said Lorne

"And what makes you think that I would follow the orders of a human?"

"Because I want to see Rozenn safe as much as you do and because I lived at the edge of the Lost Lands meaning I have more experience fighting Grimm then you. If those aren't reasons enough then be my guest and go find Rozenn yourself, but if she gets hurt or killed because you were too stubborn and one sided to listen to a human then it's on your head." Egon thought about what Lorne said and as much as he hated it Lorne was right. If Lorne lived near the Lost Lands then it would mean that his advice would be invaluable against the Trap Snapper should they encounter it.

"Fine. I'll listen to your orders but only this once. You got me?"

"Fine. What about you Orla?"

"My head hurts too much to care." Said Orla

"Alright. Then let's go find Rozenn. Stick together, keep a close eye, and an open ear."


End file.
